The airlock closing off the bridge was foreboding - covered with reactive plating, with two metal irises in the roof that likely concealed gun turrets. Certainly, the Captain trusted his crew! Jerome just hoped that they were not automatic, and the ensign didn't know how to use them. A console with a full keyboard access panel and an iris scanner was located right next to it, provocatively - if he only knew the code.

Autumn found itself presented with the AI's metallic cat face on the screen, which recited: "Pod access and launch disabled. Emergency pods are locked down, because Gods, Monsters and Men, must die together in the end. Enter override password please."A keyboard panel slid out.Thank you, AI, very helpful.

To Autumn's pleas, it answered: "Unknown user profile. You are not crew."Then, the on-screen avatar licked its metal paw with its metal tongue, uncaring as any cat she had ever seen.

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Autumn struggled to control her inner fury, resisting the urge to accent the screen with a few well placed paw strikes, instead entering the first thought that came to mind for the password.

"Ragnarock." She spoke it out loud as she typed hoping on blind luck a half recalled bedtime story would prove sufficient.

To Jerome she quickly replied, "None at the moment, just look out for any tricks inside the door, this nutter doesn't seem the type to go down quietly!"

She switched to her external communications. "Captain, your presence is required in engineering immediately!" She raised her to voice to a near roar, hoping the chimera captain was close at hand, and could assist with overriding the atmospheric purge and locking down the bridge.

She switched back to internal com, "Get that first mate down here Sunny! We need her to bypass the override!"

Chimera captain, rescued crew, I don't care who gets here first as long as they are of use.

As Sunny dragged her off to Engineering, the realisation that she was without a preassure suit wasn't lost on her. "We'll need to be in suits just in case. I think there's one back in the med-bay. I'll go back for it if there's no way I can get us onto the bridge."

Irina also put out a call through to the captain as they passed another intercom, just in case he didn't heed the newcomer's roar.

"Is our ship in position to fire on the bridge?" Jerome spoke as he pulled out two of his blast bots - ambulatory grenades. A few quick commands, and they scuttled up the walls, positioning themselves besides the irises. Orders were simple - on open, move in and detonate.

The grenades would not likely be of much use to blow the hatches, but any guns that popped out would be unlikely to survive a close explosion like that.

A thundering, scuttling sound alerted First Mate Ivanovova to the Captain's presence, she heard his slobbering and felt him reach out for her. The Kotiri in her accepted this as part of natural communication and greeting, whilst at the same time the Human part shuddered, slightly disturbed by this display.

"Captain, see if you can get onto the bridge by using your personal override!" and if we make it from here I'll make sure all officers have such a code! she promised herself silently as she ran with him to the entrance to the bridge.

The thundering shape of the Captain halted before Irina, heaving. To many, it would be a terrifying abomination, to her, it was a disconcerted young man who took a role of responsibility way above his head, because there were none more qualified.Admittedly, he was about as smart as a chimpanzee - and as affectionate as a golden retriever. Its tongue, the size of a towel, ran her down, replacing the rest of the goo from the chrysalis with saliva.

When she mentioned the 'bridge', it perked up and studied her understandingly with its many eyes - even those that Sunny had kicked out could see again.Jerome had just placed the grenades when the ship shook as the Captain charged down the hall. Frag. This is it, I am a goner.

Only, it did not go for him, instead halting in front of the door, with Irina catching up a second later."Override" she repeated, and it tilted its head much akin to a hound, trying to understand. The grafted head repeated: "Over. Ride.", then lifted up the first mate, and placed her on its back, very proud of itself.

Red viking, with shield and hammer... Autumn paused in thought, recalling something similar form ages past emblazoned on the side of a mercenary ship she served on briefly ages ago, of a large muscled human raising a hammer to sky midst roiling storm clouds, that ship was called... "THOR!" She nearly howled the word, the feeling of desperation within her growing as she frantically keyed in the phrase, taking great care to spell it exactly as she'd seen it on the ship, hoping deeply the merc ships owner had been as skilled at spelling obscure titles as this red viking likely was.

T h o r She pressed each letter once with the tip of a duranium claw, taking care to ensure there were no repeats or spaces before pressing the enter key and holding her breath.

"Are you even trying, Unknown-User? I think not!"Great. Autumn thought. Now the AI shows personality?The metallic cat on screen licked its paw again, then rolled over and attempted to be adorable.3:50"Please enter override code. 1 attempt remaining."

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Dismayed at the Captain's reaction to her requesting the override code, she quickly scrambled down and attempted to explain exactly what it was that she needed him to do. She hadn't factored in that his grafted on head might not be fully operational and whether or not his mind was intact enough to help them.

"Captain!" she adressed the head directly, staring boldy, pleadingly into his eyes. An attempt to perhaps trigger by emotion that which apparently had not been understood verbally. "I need you to come up to the retinal scanner here and enter your password, your code, your numbers." The last few simplifications might get through.

Another thought occurred to her in that moment, the head may have been grafted on, but did the creature understand how to use it? Switching to Kotari, Irina spoke to the "Captain" and did her best to explain the new addition, it's functions, and most importantly for the moment; it's memories. Which should contain the code for the bridge. Becoming impatient with his understanding she decided to try a more physical approach. She tugged him toward the scanner and keypad and demonstrated putting her eye in line with the scanner and entering a code. On the off chance, that her codes might work she gave that a try as well. The captain seemed to understand and scuttled right next to her. Gently and still conversing in Kotari, she guided his head in line with the scanner and heard the slight humming sound that indicated it was processing the iris.

The Captain turned his plated head to Irina, then to the panel; her gentle coaching led it to tiptoe slowly towards the panel, aware of its bulk and careful to emulate Irina as faithfully as possible. It was clear what he perceived as his face, yet the head of course would not fit. But the human head did! As the scanner ran its beam over the eyes, and flashed green, the massive lizard shivered with pride.

The greater task was ahead of them though, as the Irina emulated typing. The captain brought up its sizable pincers, and looked at them in a rather puzzled way, making a typing motion.The human head became more lively at the mention of 'code', the beast obviously scanning the neural tissue for what a 'code might be'.Visibly excited at the prospect that codes could be used to access new rooms, food, people and even money... it froze a bit, grasping the topic, giving Irina a puzzled look, and then proceeding....

"Code" captain Cherenkov's head spoke.It recited Yulo's number.Then, it continued:"Desdemona: seven-seven-sixteen, fourteen, eighty-eight."Sadly, they were on the Lilarcor.

Irina smiled as the light turned green and gave the Captain a relieved grin and a quick, so as not to get covered in slime, embrace before asking him to step back so that she could enter the code.

Three-O-O-Kappa-Kappa-Beta-Seven Bingo!

"You two" she gestured toward Jerome and Autumn, "get ready to breach and clear this bridge of that d**ned saboteur!" Adding almost as an afterthought, "and if anybody has a spare sidearm they could lend me I'd appreciate it?, as I haven't yet been to the armoury."

I want this &^%$@ alive, she has a lot to answer for! "If it's possible to disable her without killing her, please let's do so. We don't know if there are any other nasties lying in wait for us or what else she may have done."

and we might need any codes she's altered, we'll get that information, one way or the other..

Autumn growled, unholstering her hand cannon, feeling an urge to accent the A.I's leering grin with a pistol, round, but knowing it would only be another system to repair before they could get off the floating mad house.

The grip felt reassuring, the texture under her padded paw cool, familiar giving her a sense of calm, artificial control over the situation.

The letters of her first guess caught her attention for a moment her mind flickering back to her time on board the Thor, she recalled someone had a customized rifle he called the Ragnarok, but the name emblazoned on the side was spelled differently, at the time she remembered thinking it was a variation on the actual spelling, much like how a former mate had named their buggy Wild Fyre, but what is that spelling had been correct?

She stared at the timer refocusing on the present, only 34 seconds remained!

"Either you're about to thank me or I'll be the first of us to meet the Pale Hound!" She yelled over the com to her packmates. With a snarl she quickly typed in "Ragnarok," and mashed the enter key, hoping desperately Charlie's rifle had been named accurately.

Unlike the saboteur, Autumn saw little reason in being selfish, and unlocked the entirety of the vessels. A flood of green lights filled the dock as the individual pods came online; even the airlock to the shuttle bay flashed with a welcoming green.

***

The code entered, first, the thundering of metal bolts was heard, then the airlock to the bridge opened, the massive doors withdrawing into the wall.A corpse, its legs torn and its body strewn with lacerations, laid at the end of a blood smear in the middle of the airlock, braced against the distant door.

Beyond, there was the bridge, lights dimmed and illuminated only by the flicker of instruments.There was a barricade of overturned chairs in the middle of the corridor, about three feet high.It was silent, except for the countdown, and for ... laboured breathing of someone who had exerted himself extensively over the past few seconds.The lights were reflected off a series of long metal tubes, in the hands of a figure leaning against a pillar. Spinning in rotary motion, and a faint whirr of an electric motor told the crew of the Prize all they needed to know.Irina and Jerome go first, then the Captain, then Cornelia.

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Jerome pulled the trigger of his rocket rifle as soon as it began to point at the figure, pulling up to cut a veritical line up the figure. He had planned on using them against an armored door, so they were armor peircing, each a small shaped charged warhead. He made special effort to target the gun itself during the spray.

While Jerome was firing his rocket-rifle at the figure, Irina quickly crouched next to the body, searching it and the surrounding area for a weapon, something she could use so that she could secure the bridge without being left completely vulnerable. During her quick search of the corpse she attempted to identify the mauled body.

Conan Carelian. He'd been the Lilarcor's Pilot. A good one at that, she'd flown a couple of times when he'd let her, but he was much more in touch with her than Irina hoped to be. That would have to change now, with her being the only crewmember left that was able to operate the Lilacor. The Captain, aside from being Captain, didn't have a clue and wouldn't have been able to get far, if anywhere with a dead pilot.

Poor bastard she thought to herself as she plucked the .38 from his hand, checking the cylinders she saw that only two shots had been fired off, that gave her four. Plus the guys ammo belt. that'll have to do

She steadied herself and followed Jerome before turning to flank the figure, keeping her eyes trained on the target and newly acquired weapon up and sighted.

The impacts of the rockets turned Cornelia into a groteskue dacing puppet, tearing her hence and forth, and carving holes into her body, the stars outside suddenly visible through her black silhouette.

As if the strings supporting her were cut, the rest of her fell. Jerome halted his fire soon enough to avoid firing a rocket into the space of the bridge behind her. Somewhere, he heard that astronav computers and ordonance don't mix.

The bridge was silent, except for the beeping of the computers and the dripping of Ensign-slurry down from the rafters.

They advanced, yet the bridge held no further surprises. "The Captain is on board" the Kotiri added.

The Lilarcor was theirs.

0:30 the countdown flashed.

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Autumn unleashed a com shattering howl of triumph at her successful code entry, shooting the A.I a time honored engineers salute (a forcefully extended middle finger) for good measure, a near by display screen showing a security warning a few seconds later, the drone outside apparently having found a functional airlock control panel to interface with.

"Not on my watch." She growled to the monitor, quickly redirecting powers to the near by gun batteries and leaping for the turret bubble.

The chair was tacky with partially dried blood, and a gloved, hand still inside, grasped the control stick loosely, the rigor having long since departed it's joints. Autumn yanked at the glow and tossed it over her shoulder, nose twitching at the decayed scent, the lights to the turret blinking in acceptance, revealing the ammunition magazine to be at 74% capacity.

In the distance she could make out the drone, an delicate manipulator arm extended from it's underbelly, probing at the airlocks controls, the turrets image magnification bringing the drone into focus with a overly slick, computer enhanced image. "The Liracor has enough parasites nesting in her nether regions without you adding to the mix." She told the drone with a toothy smile, depressing the trigger and raking the auto cannons fire across its hull.

She gave a quiet growl of contentment as the drones shield flared a blindly blue for a fraction of a second before it's sleek hull was perforated with hole, erupting from inside with a flash of white to send pieces drifting through the vacuum, the vibration of the cannon the only sound beyond her bestial fury,. "Drones down, escape pods unlocked, auto purge aborted, time to vacate before a hard purge is triggered by someone or the Chimera Captain decides we're on the dinner menu." She told her crew, pulling herself out fo the turret and running full tilt for the escape pods.

For those who are curious, I rolled a 14 for the bypassing to get the turret online and a 2 for my attack roll when in chat with Echo and Dozus earlier.

Quan gave a low hum, the closest his lipless mouths could give for a whistle. "I'd like to hear that story," he said over the comm. "But preferably over a drink and a hot meal on the Prize. What say we get in this pod and get back? I'll drive."

With the communications restored, Jerome saw the bridge's comm flash as he punched out the countdown on emergency venting, the AI finally shutting up.

A picture of Yulo, drinking with captain Cherenkov, both bleary-faced like tired, freshly-fed babies appeared on the screen. Each of them held a huge mug with a beverage of dubious origin.A push of the 'answer' button later, their captain made contact.

"Excellent, kids, I see you brought the Lila online. I don't know the state of her, but find captain Cherenkov, get as many of the people, and if you can launch the Lila, do it, if not, haul them over. We still have some time before the boogeys arrive, so why don't you help the captain to secure whatever he saw in that Desdemona, and then let's get out of here!"

Irina noticed that several of the Kotiri had come out of the woodwork, pacing hence and forth behind the Captain, surely drawn here by gunfire, and curious about the new space to explore.Two dead bodies on the floor might also be a lure.

Logged

"Captain, the buttocks are moving from the pink into the red and purple spectrum! We cannot maintain this rate of spanking any longer!"

Autumn slowed her mad dash for the escape pods as she realized the danger of venting had passed, cautously making her way back to engineering. Quan's inquiry reminding her of the still complicated situation that remained. She keyed her comlink the rest of her crew, grateful the Chimera's couldn't over hear. "I'll give him a debrief, for now I'd suggest everyone fall back to the escape pods and prepare for immediate departure, tell these... Things you;re just doing a safety check or something so they don't get suspicious."

She quickly patched trough a private channel between her crew and the Prize, hoping the suits and Prize's com link encrypt/de-crypt algorithms would prove enough of a complexity to keep the Chimeras from over hearing her conversation.

"Captain? First mate Autumn reporting, the ship's a near total loss, the majority of the crew have been... Infested by some type of parasites that have for all means and purposes assimilated them and are using their corpses as puppets. Only the first mate Irina is still... Human." She paused and took a deeper breath, hoping the captain would understand the reasoning behind her suggestion.

"Given the infectious nature of these parasites, and their unknown origin, perhaps something they found on the Desdemona? Doesn't matter, I strongly recommend we evacuate to the Prize and blow this ship from the outside, or I can just rig a silent self destruct on a count down timer, at least it will let your friend and his crew find some measure of peace instead of being host to the puppet masters. Otherwise we'll need to re-kill the infested crew, and sterilize the entire ship before medical quarantine procedures will let it anywhere near a space dock. Even then, this infection is... Horrifc captain, one of these things is wearing your friend Cherenkov's face as a... Second head." She let her voice trail off for several seconds...

"Death would be a mercy for these poor bastards, and spare the rest of the galaxy from exposure to this... infestation. Irinia seems cognizant, and so far none of us have become infected, but the longer we remain, the greater the chance of us becoming exposed to this parasites vector of transmission. To be clear, I recommend in the strongest possible urgency, immediate withdrawal and destruction of the Liracor, for the safety of the Prize and any who may come answering the Distress call of the Desdemona." She paused and waited, knowing the rest of the crew would also likely chime in with their thoughts, hopefully allowing Yulo to make a quick decision.

She gritted her fangs as the pain of her injuries flared again, briefly worrying it was more serious than minor internal injuries and the aftereffects of combat. Make the right call Yulo, and let us be done with this charnel house of a ship, before your own crew fall victim to it's nightmares.

(For setting up a private encrypted com between the crew and the Prize if a roll is needed:(19:15:10) Minion: Silveressa rolls 1d100 and gets 28.

Irina stepped over Cornelia's burned remains, and selected an open channel broadcasting throughout the entire ships intercom before punching the button to address everyone on board. Starting with their rescuers, who seemed intent on leaving as quickly as they had arrived. Not that she could blame them, it was a wonder they hadn't killed more of the Kotori. Imagine what being halfy-halfs feels like she thought with a bitter sadness.

"This is First Mate Irina Ivanovova, I wish to parley with the Captain of our rescuers, or his envoy. Regarding the situation onboard my Lilacor," I suppose it is mine now, a decapitated Captain is little use as just a head.., "we are greatful for our rescue, but there are certain things that need to be brought to light, and understood. Perhaps there is a way we can help each other out. I, we also owe you for our rescue." Irina paused, wondering briefly if she could go so far as to promise them reward. The Hell with it, I need to find a way to sort things out, there'll be supplies they can make use of. As it stands there are probably more than I need for myself, now that everyone else is has either expired or unable to make use of such

With that, she let go of the send button. How was she to explain to them that the slobbering, slimed, clawed creatures were actually the victims here. Taken from their homeland by force, coming out to inspect a strange new flying mettalic, thing, before being tranquilized and hauled into stasis cages on the ship they were now. She cradled her head, what was going on? Her mind flickered back and forth between images of swamps, Captain Cherenkov, the Kotori, Arkona and Kotir. Her first though was that she was still in some state of shock, from being shot and waking up from the Chrysalis chamber. That the shock, and immense stress was causing her to hallucinate, but that couldn't be, the images, memories maybe?, were too real to ignore.

Irina noticed that Jerome was still with her on the bridge, holding his rocket-rifle eyeing up the situation warily. "Thank you for coming to our rescue," she smiled at him, a tired but warm smile. They had overcame the immediate danger and were safe for the time being, "I hope to talk with your Captain so that we can sort this mess out and all get home." alive

She went over to the pilots chair and slumped in it, awaiting the arrival of the Prize's envoy. She also began running the ships diagnostics, to see what needed to be done to get her flying properly again.